Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
Corbin hummed, repotting a houseplant that Cosmo had brought him. It wasn’t heavy yet, just a wee thing that had become rootbound, but it felt good to get his fingers in the dirt.
He felt like getting up and down in the garden now was almost an impossibility, though Ev made sure to carry him out to lounge a lot. The lovely thing was he was never alone. The babies sang to him all the time. Chattered at him. Made him laugh.
And if Evander was out, someone else was in, from Hawk to his brothers to his mother, who was keeping her eye on him.
Yarrow came in to bring him a pretty rock or a little wood carving,
He was feeling so much better. Elliot was fine. No one had tried to hurt him.
Even Cosmo had relaxed a lot on that front, not so vigilant now.
Not that Corbin didn’t keep the roses and ivy going around the front of the human-facing house as much as he could.
He did.
Thorns and grasping vines were always a good defense.
“How’s it going, bro?” Cosmo brought him a cold glass of decaf tea, handing it over to settle on the couch.
“Good. She’s almost in the new pot.”
“Good deal.” Cosmo glanced outside where the sun was fading quickly and shivered. “Evander’s out late.”
“He’s hunting. As the babies get closer and closer, I think the urge for him to go out and hunt gets larger.” It was instinctive.
“Oh, I can see that. I mean, I do have a big, fierce dragon mate of my own.” Cosmo rubbed his hands together. “He’s visiting Tyson and Zeke today. They were going to play sportsball.”
“Ah, the dragon equivalent of the World Cup, hmm?”
Cosmo shrugged. “I told him he was too old for that nonsense, but he just growled and left.”
“He’s a goofball.”
“Nah.”
They both grinned at each other, speaking as one. “Orion’s the goofy one.”
“Hey!” Cullen walked in with a loaf of bread and a hunk of cheese in hand. “And just to think, I was gonna cook for you two.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” They all started laughing together, the little ones watching on with approval.
Soon, his babies would be in that group.
Wow.
“Come on, let’s cook.” Cullen winked at him. “I’ve been craving grilled cheese.”
Corbin snorted softly. “I think I’ve moved beyond craving—I’m just starving all the damn time. I think I’m eating for forty.”
“Fifty maybe.”
Corbin got himself moving with a little bit of help from Cosmo, and they headed into the communal kitchen.
Aspen was with Evander, but little puppy Blaze was rolling around on the floor with the kids, playing, and everyone seemed safe as houses.
“Do you have any butter, brother?”
“Oh, I’m sure I do.” Evander liked his creature comforts, and butter was at the top of that list. Butter slathered on fresh bread was an amazing thing.
They set to making sandwiches. and it felt so good to just be hanging out with his brothers.
How long had it been since they were just together laughing and being idiots?
It had been something that he had almost lost in this whole silly drama that was life, and he just didn’t—
A sharp scream sounded, jerking everyone upright. Corbin’s hand went to his belly, the move instinctive. “What the fuck was that?”
Cosmo gasped. “Isabelle.”
They ran as one to the children.
What if she’d fallen into the fireplace? There wasn’t a fire laid, but still it was scary and she could hurt yourself on the grate, on the poker.
What they saw when they rounded the short hallway and arched door into the big great room wasn’t Isabelle getting into something she shouldn’t be.
It was a man, a pale, ugly skeleton of a man. He had Isabelle squeezed in one hand, almost crushed in his palm, and Elliot dangling from where he held him with the other hand by the little foot. Tisi was lying on the floor, Serena wrapped around him as if she was shielding him.
The scent of carrion on the air made him stop, rear back.
Cosmo didn’t hesitate, didn’t monologue. He just launched himself toward the asshole, but as he got closer, the hand around Isabelle’s throat tightened, and her scream disappeared, crushed out.
Red eyes flashed in the cream-cheese-carved face, bloodless lips pulling away from the sharp teeth. “I suggest, strongly, that you re-think that.”
“Cosmo!” Cullen grabbed Cosmo, yanked him back, and wrapped him in a tight embrace even as Cosmo fought like a banshee. “Easy, easy.”
HELP US! Corbin threw out the alarm, not caring who came. PLEASE! THE VAMPIRES ARE HERE.
Two of them were pregnant, for fuck’s sake, and that creature had Cosmo’s babies.
“What the fuck do you want?” Cullen snarled, holding Cosmo so hard that his muscles popped out in cords visible through his long-sleeved T-shirt.
Someone was coming. Corbin could feel it.
He knew it.
All he had to do was distract this motherfucker for a little bit, and they would come.
The vamp licked his fangs, leaving a pink stain behind. “Well, ideally, I want for you all to just give me and my children something to eat. They’re going to feast on the beast in the woodshed, for sure.”
Yarrow. He growled deep in his chest. “You’re not allowed in here.”
“Idiot. I was invited in long ago. I’m quite put out with the way this situation is all unfurling.
And I think it’s time for that to stop. So what you’re going to do is take us to the Land of Summer.
Dragons are pleasant enough. And don’t get me wrong, at some point, we will infiltrate their land.
But I acquired a taste for fae blood, you see.
It is luscious.” He got a cold, reptilian stare. “I’ll make you a deal.”
Corbin didn’t want to hear about any deal. He had no intentions of dealing. But he had to keep the son of a bitch talking. “I’m listening.”
What? He has my—
Shut UP.
“You lead me into the Land of Summer. Let me feed, let my children grow, and I’ll allow you and your progeny to survive. Otherwise, I’ll kill these four, and then I’ll just take you.” He pointed to Corbin. “You’re close enough to popping. I could feed off them for weeks. What do you say?”
“Who the fuck are you?” Cullen shouted.
The vampire’s eyes flashed a harsh red. “What do you mean ‘who am I’?”
He’s a DiMarco. He knew this had to be related to Anton DiMarco, even though he’d never seen the vampire had killed. He knew it, not because of any sort of fame, even though Devon and Brand had spoken of the fucker many times.
No, he knew it because this evil bastard had bitten his mate. Had hurt his family. His little Tisi. More than that, he knew because this was the one of vampires who had desecrated his home. Myk’s home. Jon and Luuk’s home.
I’ve got this. Cullen rolled his eyes. “Who? I mean, obviously, you’re a bloodsucker, but you know, we’ve gone through so many…”
DiMarco shook Isabelle in his hand, and Cosmo screamed in a wild, pure panic as she flopped. “Let her go, you fucker.”
“Or what?”
Little Isabelle’s cheeks were pale, and her cries were nonexistent.
Corbin, what do we do?
He had no idea.
That wasn’t exactly true. He did have one idea, but none of it involved letting anyone feed on anyone. That wasn’t how this was going to work.
“I suggest you figure this out quickly.” That hand clenched around Isabelle again, and Cosmo screamed, the sound of absolute agony.
He forced himself forward, hoping that he could do something, get to Isabelle in time, but he knew he couldn’t. He was huge and slow, and his magic didn’t want this to happen for whatever reason. Maybe it was too busy growing babies.
That was when wolf cub Blaze popped up from between DiMarco’s legs with a howl and bit the living fuck out of the man’s balls.
Chomp.
DiMarco screamed and dropped Isabelle and Elliot at exactly the same time. Just before the baby hit the stone hearth. Lare popped up, caught Isabelle and disappeared again. Elliot landed, though, with a crashing thud and slammed right down onto DiMarco’s foot, causing the vampire to scream again.
Between wolf and Lare, that was all the distraction they needed. Cullen swooped in to get to Tisi and Serena. And Cosmo and Corbin ran for Elliot and Isabelle. He could feel Evander. And Hawk. Orion. All of them heading straight for the house.
Corbin grabbed DiMarco’s arm as he reached for Blaze. “Leave my family alone!”
Cosmo snatched his son even as the vampire grappled with Corbin, who knew if he let go, even for a second, this monster would kill him and his babies.
Or worse.
Keep them alive.
I’m coming, lethean! I’m coming!
Cosmo! Mate!
My Cullen.
Their minds were filled with the thundering of hooves, the flapping of wings.
Yarrow charged into the room, a big piece of sharpened wood in his hand, his beaver distress sound ringing out loud.
His brothers were suddenly beside him, a pink dragon, a purple dragon, biting and clawing, giving him the chance to shift.
They needed their tails.
They needed to remember that, at their core, they were one.
One soul.
One heart.
One guardian.
They reached for one another, fulfilling their destiny once again, reaching for the deep well of magic they created.
The light, when it came, bleached the world and left nothing vampire at all behind.